Giving focus to the Cultural, Scientific and Social Dimension of EU - CELAC relations

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Current state of the art of the EU-CELAC relations

EU-CELAC relations on the decline?

Since the creation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the EU has been identified as a normative actor on the international scene, actively promoting the cornerstones of its acquis communautaire - peace, democracy, liberty, supranational rule of law and human rights – as well an EU approach in areas as social progress, anti-discrimination, sustainable development, and good governance in its relations with other regions and countries.

However, scholars have identified a deterioration of the EU’s international identity as a normative power and a model for integration and social cohesion, both because of the European crisis since the mid 2000’ and because the values and norms on whose basis the EU builds its international actions upon are no longer exclusive to the EU-CELAC cooperation.

During the last decade, the framework of the EU-CELAC relations has changed due to:

the stagnation in the “traditional” regional integration schemes in Latin America and the Caribbean,

the rise of less institutionalized schemes such as first UNASUR and then CELAC, or integration schemes oriented to Asia, such as the Pacific Alliance (APEC) and the negotiation of the Trans Pacific Partnership, or with a divergent orientation, such as ALBA-TCP,

a more fragmented Latin American and Caribbean region with different state (and groups of states) interests.

the EU has experienced a profound internal crisis and certain diversification of Member States’ interest through successive enlargements, as well as a stronger pressure for action from its neighbour regions and states, strengthening thus its foreign policy towards Eastern Europe, Middle East and the Mediterranean.

there has been a gradual, but deep, shift of the asymmetries between both regions, in a scenario where Latin America (to less extent the Caribbean) have significantly reduced the public debt, unemployment and fiscal deficits, as well as increased its GDP. Trade relations have also changed since the 90´s, where the EU accounted for 25% of Latin American trade, which was reduced to only 14% in 2013.

Within this context, especially China has emerged as a strong trade and investment partner throughout the CELAC region, multiplying its trade with the region by 22 from 2000 to 2013 and enjoying a special relationship with Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Jamaica and Ecuador in terms of investment in infrastructure and natural resources. As an indication of this momentum, the first CELAC-China Summit was held in Beijing in January 2015.

With regards to the Caribbean:

The region has also noted the increasing presence of China, which appears as an interesting partner due to its status as “third” actor independent from the US and the EU as traditional partners of the region. However, the relations of Caribbean states with European countries are long standing and in many cases the shared history has nourished a vivid bilateral relationship, institutionalized, at EU level, in the successive “EU–ACP agreements” and its related and specific Trade agreements. At the regional level, the policies and activities of EU in the Caribbean are a complex mix of overlapping but distinct programmes and different approaches, stemming also from the mixed nature of the Caribbean region itself, involving both Latin American countries and culturally distinct independent countries. This mixed approach makes the Caribbean part of both the ACP countries and the LAC region.

The EU-CELAC Summits:

The EU-CELAC Summits have shown a gradual fatigue since its first edition in 1999, both because of the new international context since 9/11 2001 affecting the agenda of the 2002 Madrid Summit and the EU enlargement fatigue, and the difficulties ratifying the Constitutional Treaty and the economic crisis affecting, respectively, the 2006 Vienna and 2008 Lima Summits. Latin America, on the other hand, has increasingly diversified its political dialogues with other regions and countries, product of a more multi-polar world. Overall, currently there is a general perception that EU-CELAC Summits lack impact both politically and socially.

The shared or common vision between EU and CELAC

The assessment of the shared or common vision between EU and CELAC has proven increasingly important in order to revert the biregional summit fatigue. Furthermore, a survey conducted by Latinobarómetro showed that the favourable Latin American opinion regarding the EU fell from 66% in 2011 to 47% in 2013, however, the ignorance regarding the existence of the EU remains high in the CELAC region.

The evolution of regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean and the European economic crisis has permitted a significant shift from the interregional paradigm driven by the Commission and a particular Spanish interest, to a new bilateral paradigm that coexists, at EU level, with the biregional scheme. Main elements of this new paradigm are given by Brazil and its Strategic Partnership with the EU, which is seen as a result of the stagnated EU-Mercosur negotiations (which have an even more uncertain future after the inclusion of Venezuela in Mercosur in 2012), the Strategic Partnership EU-Mexico, as well as the new leading role of Germany and the decline of Spain and France.

These developments have emphasized the importance of enhancing a policy matrix towards the different CELAC regions and states, combining both biregional and bilateral cooperation schemes across a wide array of topics. For this, the development of a new strategic framework is needed, based on the existing common interests and an appraisal of the shared visions between both regions.